_{To soak or not to soak}

Mexican cooks do not soak beans because they know that throwing out the soaking liquid isn’t a very good idea. It doesn’t do much to make them more digestible (only a steady diet of beans helps with that), and it makes the beans turn out pale in color and flavor.

Chickpea stews with flavors similar to this one are often made in Ethiopia using ground roasted chickpeas or even split peas. Here, the method is simplified but the stew’s sweet, fragrant spice mixture, which Ethiopians call berbere, remains. If you’re in a hurry, omit roasting the chickpeas and simply add them to the stew after they’ve been rinsed and drained. This recipe was inspired by a Whole Planet Foundation micro credit client who runs a chickpea roasting business.

I like the addition of a squirt of lemon juice, which brightens the taste. Adding some freshly-chopped mint is another option.

I also used 2 sheets of filo per triangle, since each sheet was about 12-inches (25cm), but if you prefer less dough, you can use one sheet. There are folks make spanakopita in a pie plate, although individual triangles give you more of the crisp-crunch of the filo, and are easier to freeze in individual portions.